Goodnight

For all the well-meaning people (and you know who you are) who persist at inquiring about Samson's sleep habits, we finally have something to celebrate. On Tuesday, July 10th, Samson slept for 9 hours straight! That's a record for the baby who had never slept more than 3 hours without waking. We're not out of the woods yet (see daily 4:30am wakeup scream), but our big boy is well on his way to sleeping through the night.

Mama and Daddy had decided that after Samson's 9 month check-up, if he were given a clean bill of health, we would be ready to start sleep coaching in order to move him out of the family bed and into his own crib, as well as to put an end to the all night Dairy Queen. Though we loved having him so close at night, we were just exhausted (especially Mama, the human pacifier) and we needed to have more uninterrupted sleep. Plus, we wanted Samson to get more sleep and to have the skills he'd need to be able to go to sleep when Mama and Daddy are out during naptime or for the evening and need to use a sitter.

To prepare, we read every sleep expert book we could get our hands on and talked to everyone we know with young children about how their kids sleep and what they did/do to help everyone in the family get enough rest. We decided to implement a modified version of the Sleep Lady Shuffle to teach Samson to fall asleep on his own, without nursing or being walked.

Samson has been sleeping in his crib for 6 nights now. Way to go, Samsonite!

As I type, Daddy and I are in our room on our computers, keeping an eye on Samson snoozing on our TV. That's right, we have a night-vision camera on the crib which can be quickly connected to any TV in the house. Thanks for the tip on a supercool baby product, Turners!

Family Self-Portrait

Samson has become so accustomed to the camera, he knows to smile as soon as the red light shines. What a ham!

Can you see all four teeth?

Sorry about the lack of recent posts, dear readers. We've been super busy at the Hobbit Hole this summer and Mama hasn't had much time to write. We promise to get back on track this month....

Young Hacker at Work

New Portraits

We just received the proofs for Samson's first photo session (June 10th @ about 8 mos) with a pro photographer. Beware -- the level of sweetness in these pics may cause tooth decay! Here's a small taste:


















To see other pics, go to http://www.alisoneden.com/, click on the word "clients" in the left margin, and then enter our password "samson" to access the proofs.

Mama's Horns

Samson sports his first UT t-shirt, a gift from the Engineering School. No pressure, son!

Note the appearance of a third tooth on the top of Samson's mouth. He actually has four now and the emergence of these latest two incisors has given him a bit of grief. We've had to stock up on baby tylenol and Mama has had to learn the art of avoiding the chompers during nursing. Ouch!